Dwarves in gyrocopters. There’s just something about it, right? I don’t know how many games that can offer you both of these, but what I can tell you is that Bore Blasters has lots of them. Up until recently, I had no idea that I wanted a game where I mined rocks using a gatling cannon, but the heart wants what the heart wants!
So what is Bore Blasters exactly? Well, if you’ve ever theorised about how you might bore down to the centre of the earth, I bet you never thought about using a gun mounted on to a helicopter. Of course you haven’t! That’s dwarven ingenuity for you. You can expect explosions, bullets and precious minerals in this fast paced and action packed game about uncovering expensive rocks and weird mysteries.
As I said above, you’re going to spend a lot of your time doing two things: Shooting a whole lot and mining a whole lot. Practically everything you shoot at can be destroyed, though not all of what you destroy has profit. There are boring rocks and shiny rocks, the latter being the way that you upgrade your ‘copter. The first couple of runs will serve to familiarise you with how the loop works. Enter the zone, – shoot rocks, – shoot enemies, – leave. It’s not exactly rocket science, but there are enough special biomes and hazards to keep you on your toes.
On-the-Spot Additions
So, as you collect gems on your mining missions, you’ll find that with every time you fill up your collection bar, you’re met with temporary little addons to your gyrocopter that serve to either make you more deadly or to give you some defensive capability —, as well as several that serve to generate you even more profit factor when mining gems.
I found this to be a welcome feature that saved my little dwarves on more runs than I care to remember as some of them are hilariously beefy. I particularly enjoyed watching my copter spawn what I can only describe as a mortar on the back that continuously fired out explosive projectiles that mined rocks and eviscerated any hostile mobs that were stupid enough to find themselves within firing range.
Bore Blasters does upgrades in an interesting way, to me at least. Every gem you collect on a run (whether it’s failed or not) goes towards a fund that you can spend on certain upgrades for your copter. Want to shoot faster? Great news, you can purchase faster bullets! Fancy turning your copter into a giant magnet that scoops up every precious gem in proximity to you? You can do that! I actually was a big fan of the fact that despite the fact you can fail runs, it never feels too punishing as you actually retain any and all gems that you manage to pick up.
Some may find this a little too much of a hand-holder but me personally, I found it to be quite a pleasant feature. There was many a time where I overestimated how quickly I could finish a run before I ran out of gas in the tank, especially earlier on. This led to a lot of instances of me cursing whilst my little dwarven hero sank to the bottom of a hole and exploded which, while funny, was infinitely less annoying when I found out I could keep hold of all my hard earned shiny rocks.
Trailblazing Trio
In Bore Blasters, your copter has a special ability that is dictated by the dwarf that pilots it. I was delighted to find out that as I progressed, I actually recruited two more aviators that had their own bespoke abilities for me to try. I was a big fan of a particular character that attached a gigantic beam to the end of the copter that instantly transforms any rock that is unfortunate enough to end up in its path into more shiny gems that are able to be grabbed!
I will mention that it did feel like that it was a lot easier to play with a particular dwarf that had heat seeking missiles which act as a sort of panic option if you’re either being overwhelmed by enemies or you just want to explode a passage of rock because you can’t be bothered to mine it the old fashioned way. This could just be me but I tested a couple of boss fights with each and I found the missiles to be the safest play. At the end of the day, this isn’t exactly an issue, but it is pretty clear which one you should be choosing if you want to mince harder challenges.
So unbeknownst to myself, Bore Blasters actually has a loose narrative that connects your dwarven trio to larger events. I won’t give too much away as I encourage anyone to experience it firsthand, but it acts as a nice accompaniment to the many, many mining missions and serves to give a purpose to what you’re doing rather than letting you fall into endless monotony which was something I greatly appreciated.
While it isn’t the most compelling story in the world, it absolutely doesn’t and never needs to be. The gameplay is where Bore Blasters shines for me. As well as this, completing story missions also unlocks more levels for you to explore, with later ones containing more aforementioned temporary addons that will become available for your pilots to earn whenever they fill up their profit bar during a run.
Gone Borin’
Bore Blasters is a neat little experience. It’s got just enough that it doesn’t overwhelm you with information, but also not too little that you ask yourself what to do next. Many a time during my runs I found myself observing my clock and realising I’d just spent the last four hours mining away at rocks with a chaingun mounted on to a gyrocopter. Far too many a time.
Every run is ever so different, with the amount of different upgrades and addons available you’ll always have something happen that’ll make you either raise your eyebrows or just exclaim as your copter takes one too many hits and decides to take a dive. I can’t really give it any more of a recommendation than: It has dwarves. In gyrocopters. If that doesn’t do it for you, I’m not sure what will.
Bore Blasters is available now for Steam!